Nonprofit compliance in Vermont

Vermont has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers. Licensed child care is the main exception: under DCF licensing rules, a non-parent volunteer present more than five times in 365 days (more than three times a year in afterschool programs) goes through the DCF background check, and staff checks with fingerprints repeat at least every five years. Residential treatment programs check volunteers on hire and every three years. Any organization can buy a Vermont conviction record from VCIC for $30 (20 V.S.A. §§ 2056c, 2063), free for a VCIC-designated qualified entity serving children, elders or people with disabilities; one whose primary function is care of those groups can also run a fingerprint-based national check at $10 per volunteer plus up to $35 for prints. School volunteers are not on the 16 V.S.A. § 255 list; districts set their own volunteer policy.

• Licensed child care background checks (33 V.S.A. § 3502; DCF Center Based Child Care rules 2.3.8.2, 2.3.9.3, 7.2, 7.7.5; Family Child Care Home rules 7.2.2, 7.7.5; Afterschool rules 2.53, 5.11–5.13) — Licensees, staff and auxiliary staff submit a Records Check Authorization and fingerprints through DCF before working with children, and staff are rechecked at least every five years. A non-parent volunteer present more than five times in 365 days must also submit a Records Check Authorization (more than three times a year in afterschool programs); the fingerprinting rule is written for staff and anyone left alone with children. Volunteers may never be left alone with children (a parent with their own child excepted) or counted in ratios.
• Vermont conviction records and the qualified-entity fee waiver (20 V.S.A. §§ 2056c, 2062, 2063(b)(1); VCIC Vulnerable Populations Program) — Anyone may obtain a Vermont conviction record from the Vermont Crime Information Center by name and date of birth after accepting a user agreement, for $30; the report shows convictions only. A Vermont organization that VCIC designates as a qualified entity serving children, elders or people with disabilities pays no Vermont record fee. Checks are optional: the organization decides whether, and for which roles, to request them.
• National fingerprint check for volunteers (National Child Protection Act) (34 U.S.C. § 40104 (as cited in 20 V.S.A. § 2063(b)(1)); 20 V.S.A. § 2065; VCIC NCPA Fact Sheet) — VCIC runs fingerprint-supported FBI checks on employees, volunteers and contractors of designated Vermont qualified entities whose primary function is care of vulnerable populations. VCIC charges $10 for a volunteer ($12 for an employee), identification centers charge up to $35 for prints, and results take four to six weeks.
• School record checks (employees and contractors, not volunteers) (16 V.S.A. §§ 252–260; VCIC Education Record Checks) — Superintendents and headmasters must run fingerprint-supported VCIC and FBI checks, plus child and adult abuse registry checks, on people recommended for employment, contractors with unsupervised contact and student teachers. The statute does not cover volunteers; each school board adopts a volunteer-supervision policy (§ 260), and VCIC says a district may check volunteers only through the Vulnerable Populations or NCPA procedure.
• Child Protection and Adult Abuse Registry access (33 V.S.A. §§ 4919(a)(3), (c), (e), 6911(d)(1)(C), (d)(2), 6914) — An organization that cares for or transports children or vulnerable adults, on a paid or volunteer basis, may ask DCF and DAIL whether a current or conditionally accepted volunteer is on the Child Protection Registry or the Adult Abuse Registry, with the volunteer’s signed release. Since July 1, 2023, § 6914 lets only state commissioners, not private employers, ask VCIC for conviction records through DAIL.
• Sealing and expungement (2025 Act 60) (13 V.S.A. §§ 7601–7611, as amended by 2025 Acts and Resolves No. 60, effective July 1, 2025) — Act 60 made sealing the main remedy for past convictions: most misdemeanors and listed felonies can be sealed after 3 or 7 years, while expungement is now limited to conduct that is no longer a crime. A sealed or expunged record is reported to the public as no criminal record, and on an application for employment, license, or civil right or privilege a person may be asked only about arrests or convictions that have not been sealed or expunged (13 V.S.A. §§ 7606(b)(2), 7607(b)(2)); whether a volunteer application counts is unsettled.
• Mandated reporting (33 V.S.A. §§ 4913, 6903) — Camp owners, administrators and counselors of any residential or nonresidential recreational program, child care workers and clergy, among others, must report suspected child abuse within 24 hours. Employees, contractors, volunteers and grantees who directly serve adults must report suspected abuse of a vulnerable adult within two business days.
• Who it reaches: Non-parent volunteers present more than five times in 365 days at a licensed child care center or registered or licensed family child care home (DCF child care licensing rules 7.7.5); Volunteers who come to a licensed afterschool child care program more than three times a year (DCF afterschool rule 2.53); Volunteers, board members and interns with unsupervised contact at a licensed residential treatment program, on hire and every three years (DCF residential treatment program regulations 412, 427); Everyone 16 or older living in a family child care home (DCF child care rule 7.2.2); a foster home license may be denied or revoked if the applicant, licensee or any household member has been charged with or convicted of a criminal offense or has abused or neglected a child (foster home rule 038); Optional, not required: school volunteers, chaperones and unpaid coaches, at district discretion through the VCIC Vulnerable Populations or NCPA procedure (16 V.S.A. §§ 255, 260); Optional, not required: volunteers at any Vermont organization serving children, elders or people with disabilities, through VCIC’s qualified-entity program; Optional, not required: Child Protection Registry and Adult Abuse Registry checks on volunteers who care for or transport children or vulnerable adults (33 V.S.A. §§ 4919, 6911).
• Check types in use: Vermont conviction record check through VCIC (name and date of birth; convictions only); FBI fingerprint check through VCIC’s National Child Protection Act program (qualified entities only); DCF child care records check (VCIC, national crime-information and both abuse registries; fingerprints for staff and anyone left alone with children); Child Protection Registry check through DCF (33 V.S.A. § 4919); Adult Abuse Registry check through DAIL (33 V.S.A. § 6911); Vermont Sex Offender Registry search.
• Administered by: Vermont Crime Information Center (VCIC), Department of Public Safety; Department for Children and Families (child care checks, Child Protection Registry, foster and residential licensing); Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living (Adult Abuse Registry).
• Typical processing: Online Vermont conviction reports are usually immediate, though possible matches go to VCIC staff for review (20 V.S.A. § 2056c(c)(5)); mailed requests take 5–7 business days; fingerprint-based national checks take 4–6 weeks; DCF child care clearances up to 45 days after VCIC receives the paperwork.

Vermont does not require charities to register before soliciting; its Charitable Solicitations Law regulates paid fundraisers, and a charity’s own officers and employees are not paid fundraisers (9 V.S.A. § 2471(8)(C)). A paid fundraiser must sign a written contract with the charity and get its approval of scripts, file a notice of solicitation with the Attorney General at least 10 days before each campaign with a $20,000 bond, pay a $675 yearly registration fee and $270 for each notice (raised from $500 and $200 on July 1, 2025), tell donors it is paid, and file a financial report within 90 days after the campaign (§§ 2472, 2473, 2475(e), 2477); neither a paid fundraiser nor a charity may misrepresent how gifts will be used (§ 2475(b)). Vermont nonprofit corporations file a biennial report with the Secretary of State between January 1 and April 1 (11B V.S.A. § 16.22). Nonprofits may run raffles and other games of chance without a state license, within prize caps of $400 a game with larger once-a-day, once-a-month and once-a-year prizes, on no more than two days a week, and no one convicted of a felony-level crime in the last 10 years may organize or run a game (13 V.S.A. § 2143(e)).

• A Vermont charity does not register with the state to solicit, but an outside paid fundraiser it hires must file a notice of solicitation and a $20,000 bond with the Attorney General before each campaign (the charity’s own officers and employees are exempt), and a Vermont nonprofit corporation files a biennial report by April 1 (9 V.S.A. §§ 2471(8), 2473; 11B V.S.A. § 16.22).
• Soliciting residents of other states can trigger registration in those states regardless of where you are based — an online donate button reaches all fifty.
• Exemptions exist in most registering states (small organizations, religious organizations, membership appeals) but they are specific and usually must be claimed rather than assumed.
• Confirm current requirements with your state charity office before relying on this — thresholds and exemptions are amended frequently.

These apply regardless of which state you operate in, and they are the ones most commonly missed by small organizations that assume state registration is the whole picture.

• Annual Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N. Three consecutive years of non-filing revokes exempt status automatically — this is the single most common way small nonprofits lose their status.
• If you run background checks on volunteers, the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies to you as a user of consumer reports: a standalone written disclosure, separate written authorization, and the pre-adverse and adverse action sequence before acting on a result.
• Public disclosure: your exemption application and recent 990s must be made available on request.
• Employment obligations attach to paid staff regardless of exempt status — payroll tax, worker classification, and wage and hour law all apply.